ABC World News Tonight finished the week of Dec. 10 as not only the most-watched evening newscast, but it also ended up averaging as many adults 25-54 as its NBC competition (1.86 million). That’s not something one sees particularly often.
Per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, the David Muir-anchored newscast also averaged 8.88 million total viewers, outperforming NBC Nightly News by +310,000, which represents the newscast’s largest margin of victory in 9 weeks. World News has won 11 of the 12 weeks of the season in total viewers.
On the downside, World News Tonight posted year-over-year audience losses in the key categories, -5 percent in total viewers and -3 percent in A25-54 viewers.
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt didn’t technically lose its tight grip on first place among adults 25-54. By averaging the same number of demo viewers as World News, Nightly News has now won or earned a share of top billing in the A25-54 demo for 20 consecutive weeks. On the downside, NBC’s flagship newscast was -10 percent vs. last year in the demo, and -4 percent among total viewers.
The CBS Evening News with Jeff Glor was -5 percent in total viewers, and -8 percent in A25-54 viewers vs. the comparable week in 2017.
The averages for the week of Dec. 10, 2018:
| Network | ABC | NBC | CBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,876,000 | 8,566,000 | 6,630,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,862,000 | 1,862,000 | 1,286,000 |
Source: The Nielsen Company, NTI Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 Live + SD weeks of 12/10/18, and 12/11/17. Most Current: 2018 -2019 Season (9/24 – 12/16/18) and 2017-2018 Season (9/25 – 12/17/17). Averages based on regular telecasts.